Folding garment hanger



'-MalCh 31', 1'953 M. A. GILLEsPlE x-:T AL

FOLDING GARMENT HANGER Filed' May 17 nnentors )Lmttomeg Patented Mar. 3l, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FOLDING GARMEN T HANGER Michael A. Gillespie and Earl L. Morey,

Bridgeport, Conn.

Application May 17, 1950, Serial No.

4 Claims.v

complicated, tionable for other reasons.

A further object of this invention is to provide animproved folding garment hanger constructed andarranged to be easily and quickly folded for packing and, when folded, to have no projecting hooks or other parts of any sort.

4/ further object is to provide a folding hanger ,having an improved arrangement for supporting such articles as trousers, skirts or the like.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, we have devised the construction illustrated in in the scope of the invention.

In this drawing:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of a folding garment hanger showing one embodiment of the invention extended for use;

Fig. 2 is a top plan of the hanger shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view thereof;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the hanger folded for packing, yand Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are transverse sections on the lines `5, 6 6, 'I-T respectively, of Fig. 1.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention At one end each arm II has a I2 projecting outwardly from one side of the end and having a width about equal to one-half the width of the associated arm II, whereby a recess I3 is provided at the side of each ear I2 to receive the ear of a cooperating :arm for hinging the two arms together. A tapered end face I4 on each ear I2 is adapted to engage the edge I5 of the opposite recess I3,l as

Wood or plastic. hinge forming ear stops to determine the arms Il when in open shown in'Fig. 1, to form relative positions of the position.

The ears rivet I6 or I 2 are hinged shaped body portion I9 which is positioned to lie in the plane of the arms I I. The hook-shaped body portion I 9 is connected to the arm I8 by an offset arm 2l which extends along one side of one Each arm II is formed to enclose the supporting member I'I and particularly the hook portion I9 thereof of each arm.

The invention includes Ya simple, effective arrangement for supporting such garments as trousers, skirts and the like. As

finger 28 by a pin 33 extending through ilanges or lugs 33a on the two ngers, and its free end forming a gripping jaw 31 is yieldingly pressed against the similar jaw 38 of finger 28 by a spring 34 coiled around the pin 33 and engaging the two fingers 28, 32 as shown in Fig. 5. order to re-l tain the skirt vand trouser supporting fingers 26 in the confines of the associated slots when retracted therein, each slot is formed of such width that a projecting end 35 of each spring pressed finger 32 is engaged by the side of the slot sutil ciently to apply a slight stress thereto enough to tension slightly the spring 34. This causes the end 35 of the spring pressed iinger 32 `to engage the side of the slot 21 with sufc'et friction tol retain the clip 26 in the slot when not in use.` Each side wall of each slot 21 has indentations 36 to facilitate gripping thevclips 26 when it isdesired to vdraw them o t of the slots for use. The jaws 31 and 38 may, if desired, be provided or covered with some plastic material 39 to improve' the grip on the cloth or fabric.

lin use, the hanger is opened out to the position shown in Fig. 1, for example, in which the end face i4 in each recess i3 is engaged by the and face it on the cooperating ear l2. These faces are so formedA as to holdthe arms H at the proper angle for use. In this position the hanger-supporting hook is held in operative upright Ypositiok hy the lugs 23 on lthe respective ears l2 as above described. When Athe s kirtor trouser supporting clips 2S are drawn down into the operative position, such articles can be secured thereto easily and quickly. In order to fold the' hanger, t he clips 2G are swung into the associated slots 21 and the arms 'are then folded together as shown ifi Fig. 4. In this position it will be apparent that no parts of the hanger project outwardly in such a way as to interfere with other articles with which the hanger may be packed. The supporting hook I1 is housed within the slots or recesses 24 in each arm', while the arm 2l on the hook lis close to the adjacent ear.

Manufacture and assembly of the hanger is easy and inexpensive. The cooperating arms il are identical in size and shape so that only one formof arm is required, and this reduces the cost of manufacture to the minimum. They may be formed of any siiitabl'e material, preferably wood or plastic. Although we have described a specic construction ofV hanger in detaiL the invention can be variously modified and adapted within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus set forth the nature of our invention, we claim:

l. A folding garment hanger comprising apair of garment-supporting arms, a hingeforming ear on one end of each arm overlapping asimilar ear on the other arm, connectingmeanscomprising a hollow rivet estending through each of said ears to hinge said arms together forrelative movement into exte ded garment-supporting position or into folded position in which-said arms lie edge to edge closely adjacent eachother,-

a-hanger-supporting me ber extending through said hollow rivet and having a hook-shaped body portion positioned within the piane of said garment-supporting arms, aligned-slots inV their opposed edges forY housing said supporting member between them when folded.

2. A-folding garment-hanger comprising a'pair of garment-supporting. arms, ahinge-forming ear on one end of Y each-arm-overlapping a similar said arms having ear on the other through said ears arm, a hollow rivet extending to hinge said arms together for relative movement into extended garmentsupporting position or into folded position in which said arms lie edge to edge closely adjacent each other, a hanger-supporting member comprising a wire having aV loop extending through SUPPQTI opposed edg ber when fol @m15 es for housing said supporting memded, and stop means on said ears having aligned slots in their engaging the opposite sides of the respective side armsof said hanger-supporting member to hold said hook-shaped body portion upright when said garment-supporting arms are extended.

3, A folding gaiment hanger ,comprising apair of garment-supporting arms hinged together for relative movement into extended garment-supporting position or into folded position in which said aims lie edge toedge close1yadjacent each other, a hangersupporting,member connected to said arms having a hook-shaped `body pornon, and a g aiment-supporting clip including a body member pivotally connected to each arm for movement in the pending position plane ofthe arm into derelative to the associated arm and provided with a gripping jaw at' its lower end, and a spring-operated clamppivoted to the body member opposed to that of the Abody said arms having a edge opposed to the other arm and provided with agripping jaw member, each of clip-receiving slot in the into which the associated clip is movable to enclose said clip when the arms are in folded position.

4'. A folding garment hanger comprisinga pair of garment-supporting arms hinged together for relative movement into extended garment-'supporting position or intofolded position in Awhich said arms lie edge toed ge closely adjacent each other, a hangersupporting member connected to the arms having a hook-shapedbody portion,

and a garment-supporting clip `including abody member pivotal-ly Vconnected to each movement in the plane of the arm into depending positio provided with a gripping jaw at its lower end, d arms having ay clip-receiving slot in its lower edge into which ismovable, a spring each of sai n relative tdthe associatedA arm and the" vassociated clip pressed finger on eachv clip including a gripping jaw opposedto` that of the body member for vided with means holding a garment and rproto engagea wall of the slot when said clip is positioned in said slot to shift the jaw and tension the spring to retain the clip in the slot.

MICHAEL A. VG11-.1.its1un. EARL L. MoREY.

REFEREMJESl CITED followingr'eference's are of record in the file'of this patent: UNf'rizD STATES i'rrrnrf'rsv Number Numberl Name Date Behrend Feb. is, 189e Geraci June`V l, 1909 Butrick Nov. 4, 1919 Owen f Apr. 6, 192i) Goldberg Dec; 2, 1930 FOREIG PATENTS Country Date GrreatV Britain May' 2. 192. 

